Mountain Xpress 03.24.21

OUR 27TH YEAR OF WEEKLY INDEPENDENT NEWS, ARTS & EVENTS FOR WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA VOL. 27 NO. 34 MARCH 24-30, 2021

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MARCH 24-30, 2021

MOUNTAINX.COM

C ONTENT S

NEWS

8 ROOM TO GROW? ACS preschool changes draw commissioner, community critiques

11 OUT OF ORDER Haywood Street restrooms face permanent closure

WELLNESS

NEWS

FEATURES

18 HEALTH ROUNDUP New accessible buses in Henderson County; paramedic team tackles overdose cycle; more

PAGE 20 SAFE PASSAGE

PUBLISHER: Jeff Fobes

Local conservation groups are pushing for animal-friendly pathways across Interstate 40 between Asheville and Knoxville. And a new children’s book by Frances Figart, A Search for Safe Passage, builds awareness of the issue among a new generation of wildlife advocates.

ASSISTANT TO THE PUBLISHER: Susan Hutchinson

COVER PHOTO Courtesy of Bridget Donaldson, Virginia Transportation Research Council COVER DESIGN Scott Southwick

4 LETTERS 4 CARTOON: MOLTON

A&C

5 CARTOON: BRENT BROWN 22 “A PERFECT STORM” Community efforts seek to stop the rise in musician ODs during the COVID-19 pandemic

7 COMMENTARY 8 NEWS 14 BUNCOMBE BEAT

A&C

16 COMMUNITY CALENDAR 24 ALL RISE FOR FOOD EQUITY WNC Food Justice Planning Initiative works collaboratively to effect system change

18 WELLNESS 20 GREEN SCENE 22 ARTS & CULTURE

A&C

28 CLUBLAND 25 GLOBAL INCLUSION Holophonic Theatre debuts with audio-only dystopian cyberpunk musical

30 FREEWILL ASTROLOGY 30 CLASSIFIEDS 31 NY TIMES CROSSWORD

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OPINION

Send your letters to the editor to letters@mountainx.com.

Plan, then vote to send students back As a beekeeper, before I perform any inspection on a hive, I have a detailed plan of action set in place.

This plan of action contains a varying number of if-then scenarios in which I know what I may encounter. You see, there is limited time in which one can be inside a hive, for the safety of both the keeper and the bees. Each hive is different and may need a different course of action than the one next to it. But I know this before I even contemplate popping the top of the hive.

Before the [Buncombe County Schools] board and the superintendent sat down to their [Feb. 25] special called session, there should have been a plan of action set in place for each of the 23 elementary schools in our county. As stated in the meeting, each school has different special circumstances, different needs, different concerns. Why were these not addressed before calling the special session?

Are the 1,000 vaccine doses a week that are allotted to BCS employees now to be dedicated to

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MARCH 24-30, 2021

Development proposal is all wrong for Charlotte Street

C A R TO O N B Y R AN DY M O L T O N primary school staff and teachers?

What is the spacing between students for each specific school? How will bus safety be addressed? How will lunch/snack/playtime be handled? These are just a few of the problems that should have been addressed prior to the vote, rather than rushing to find solutions by an arbitrary date which they themselves set.

It is a failure to our community to rush into sending children back to school under Plan A without a plan.

Our schools have been under Plan C/B for going on a year. There is no excuse that these educational professionals [did] not have a concrete and specific plan set in place before voting to send students back.

Now middle and high schoolers are supposed to go back into the buildings full time as well. With nine days to adjust to this new plan, parents are left hanging in the wind as to what to expect from yet another transition. Only a warning to the community to not gather for spring break, when we are just now recovering from the winter break spike. And completely ignoring the fact that getting the young adults in our community to follow guidelines is akin to herding cats.

— Julie Moller Fairview Editor’s note: Xpress contacted Buncombe County Schools with the letter writer’s points, and we received the following response from Stacia Harris, director of communications: “First, we’d strongly encourage this parent to bring their concerns directly to their principal.

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All of these specific questions can be answered at the school level.

You’ll need to reach out to the health department regarding vaccine distribution.

“We are pleased to say that our district leadership and school admin teams have been in constant communication and collaboration this year as we’ve planned and strategized for what Plan A, B and C would look like for a particular school. Any votes from the board provided time to make the necessary transition between plans. Each school has a different layout, so each admin team was empowered to customize a plan that works for their needs. There is no one-sizefits-all approach, and our schools have successfully implemented safety plans that work for them.”

No tax relief in sight

[Board of Commissioners Chairman] Brownie Newman says that if we give tax relief to businesses that have suffered from the pandemic, we would have to raise taxes on everyone else in order to maintain county services.

Too bad he didn’t think of that before he voted to give Pratt & Whitney $27 million in tax incentives. I guess I can’t count on a lower tax rate for my greatly increased property appraisal.

— Ken Jones Swannanoa

I understand that a development proposal for north Charlotte Street would take 6.84 acres of land, involve building 183 residential units, 20 three-story row houses and 50,000 square feet of commercial space, in addition to removing 11-13 structures of the Chestnut Hill Historic District and the destruction of historic heritage treasured trees.

The proposed development for north Charlotte Street is completely out of proportion for our neighborhood! It will completely change the character of the neighborhood I have lived in for over 37 years, increase traffic problems and move large, impersonal commercial spaces further into residential neighborhoods.

Why 50,000 square feet of commercial space when many, many existing structures stand empty?

City Council is the firewall between the citizens and the developers. It’s the community that will be left to deal with the results of their decisions, while the developers and land sellers pocket the profits.

Rampant and unthoughtful development threatens to ruin our town.

Surely, there are ways that the city can guide development that is more in line with the character of our community. It’s very distressing to see Asheville being sold off to people and companies who have no real investment in our community (other than to extract wealth from it) or interest in sustainable, thoughtful development.

I agree with the Preservation Society’s statement: “It becomes very clear that the proposed development on Charlotte Street, Baird Street, Furman Avenue and Chestnut Street does not match the goals of the plan (i.e., Living Asheville). We urge the Planning Department and City Council to encourage the developers to rethink their plans now.”

If you agree that this development is all wrong for the north Charlotte Street area, please let our City Council members know. You can also contact the Preservation Society or www. grow-wise.org for more information.

— Anne Craig Asheville

Join Asheville High to help reverse global warming Hello, WNC! It’s that time of year again to celebrate Earth Month throughout the entire month of April!

There’s no better way I can think

CARTOON BY BRENT BROWN of than to create or join a team, and learn about and practice the solutions to reverse global warming through EcoChallenge.org’s Earth Month EcoChallenge. The EcoChallenges are either one-time only or daily and are rooted in Project Drawdown’s solutions to reverse global warming!

Yes, you read that correctly — we know how to reverse this global crisis! Be excited!

Get your head and heart out of existential dread and practice hope, which requires both a will and a way. The Earth Month EcoChallenge presents the way while you possess the will. Create your own team or join Asheville High School’s team [avl.mx/95j]. Throughout April, let’s witness how our individual actions collectively add up to real, positive impacts. Let’s show the world that Asheville truly is a Climate City.

Follow @AHSsolarCougars on Instagram to see our work. If you are a sixth-12th grade teacher, email Sarah.Duffer@acsgmail.net to get free lessons to support your work.

Forward together!

— Sarah Duffer Asheville High School science department Asheville

Boost funding to educate, train police Most police, like most people, are good human beings. These hardworking individuals put a bulletproof vest on as part of their uniform. Every traffic stop and engagement with the public has the potential to escalate to a violent ending. Stop for a moment and put yourself in their shoes.

For years, there has been a degradation of funding for social services and mental health advocates. This is wrong and unfortunate, but funding should not come at the expense of law enforcement. In fact, funding for our people in blue should be increased to better educate them on conflict resolution and sensitivity training.

“Our” police risk their lives to protect and serve, and I am personally grateful for their presence.

— Karen Lepore Asheville

Don’t overlook construction trades I read with interest the article “Mind the Gap” regarding the current state of unemployment and the available jobs in our county [“Mind the Gap: WNC Has More Job Openings Than Unemployed Workers. Why?” Feb. 24,

Xpress]. I was extremely surprised to read the article and see no mention of the extreme dearth of workers in the construction trades. One need only drive in any direction in our county, and they will see numerous construction projects underway.

As a small-business owner in the landscape construction industry, we deal with many different trades on our job sites, from carpenters to electricians to plumbers to paving contractors to fencing contractors, etc., etc., and every single business owner I talk to says they can’t find enough help.

Your article states that the highest jump in unemployment is in the group with no college degree — most of these trades do not require a college degree. They do, however, require someone to be willing to work hard and be exposed to inclement weather and long hours. And there is no such thing as “remote work.”

But I think many in our community are overlooking a segment of our economy that can provide a very good and stable income for someone who may not be college material or is unwilling to be saddled with $50,000plus student debt to obtain a degree.

A-B Tech and all of the other technical colleges offer very affordable certification programs, and many companies are willing to train in-house. I can’t help but wonder

if our younger generation has been largely brainwashed to think that every person who gets a college degree will land a $100,000/year desk job and won’t have to work very hard for it. This mindset has done a disservice to those folks who still cling to this pipe dream.

Most plumbers and electricians are billing around $100/hour, and other contractors are not far behind that, so the potential income in the trade industry can far surpass the $68,000 average salary Pratt & Whitney will be offering, plus you get to travel

CONTINUES ON PAGE 6

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MARCH 24-30, 2021

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OPINION to different job sites almost every day and discover new places in this beautiful area we call home. I would take that any day over being stuck in a windowless warehouse.

Sure, sometimes the work is backbreaking and miserable, but at least you can go to sleep every night knowing you did honest work, and you actually have something tangible to show for it, which is pretty satisfying in my book. It seems like some folks need to be reminded of the old adage, “You don’t always get what you wish for, but you get what you work for.”

— Lisa Myers Leicester

Ask commissioners to support conservation effort I’m writing to encourage people to write to their county commissioners in support of increasing funds in the county budget for land conservation to $750,000 per year. This is +/- 0.2% of the whole county budget, and funds would be primarily used to leverage landowner charitable gifts and state, private and federal dollars to pay for conservation easements. Buncombe County has been contributing funds to land conservation since the early 2000s and has set a fantastic track record of leveraging $10 of private, state and federal dollars for every $1 contributed by Buncombe County.

On Feb. 16, [Commissioner] Terri Wells provided a well-rounded briefing that links the recently developed

Buncombe County Strategic Plan to the need for a financial commitment from the county toward land conservation. It’s always good to be reminded of the multiple leveraged impacts of land conservation (the gift that keeps on giving), which include productive farmland and pristine forests and steams, air quality, scenic beauty, carbon sequestration, wildlife habitat — all things that contribute to our overall quality of life.

Terri’s presentation is well balanced with the need to recognize that we are also a growing county, and people will need places to live. Thus this effort to preserve the best of what’s left when it comes to soil, water and ecological benefits, will of course be relatable to the need for affordable housing, free market choices that also drive development and all the infrastructure that goes along with it. The county and its landowners are going to want and need those things, too, which is unavoidable, but Terri was able to balance that thought with the reasonable statement of our need to balance our growing and thriving county with all the benefits that come from the natural world as well.

Offering up this information for a county-level initiative is one thing, but putting it in perspective nationally and globally is something Terri did that was really helpful and inspiring.

Terri brought up the 30-by-30 campaign that Biden’s administration has adopted for the U.S. to conserve 30% of its land and water resources by the year 2030. 30-by-30 is a worldwide international campaign that we can be part of on our local level by asking

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I can assure you, working in a public school, I’m not part of the liberal bourgeoisie, but I have seen the neighborhood change drastically in recent years with rapid gentrification.

I, like you, worry about the sharp rise in homelessness, but urban gardens are not to blame in the least. They are often located on land not suitable for residential construction and are one of the few places where unhoused folks can simply exist for free.

In fact, they not only provide a relaxing respite from the streets, but community gardens also act as a source of free fresh produce, a precious commodity.

Furthermore, if we look at the land use in a historical context, we see that before urban renewal snatched large swatches of land from low-income neighborhoods, these gardens served as a critical piece of the communities’ food security.

Urban gardens are desperately needed to capture carbon, a benefit for all residents of the city regardless of income, and they provide a critical oasis for the pollinators that our larger food systems rely on. And, to your point, there is no better way to cut down your commute than walking down the road to pick your produce rather than having it trucked in from all reaches of the land. There is such joy in finding my students walking home through the garden, leisurely picking an after-school snack as they go.

I promise you that urban agriculture isn’t a fantasy; it’s a real mutual aid practice already in action that strengthens communities, improves health outcomes and ensures there will always be a place in town to rest in the shade of a tree and enjoy the fruits that Mother Earth provides for all of her residents, regardless of their ability to pay.

— Summer Whelden Asheville

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The many benefits of urban food gardens While I wholeheartedly agree that homelessness is a significant problem in Asheville, as a garden educator and community herbalist, I have to take issue with the notion that urban gardening spaces are contributing [“The Problem with Urban Food Gardening,” Feb. 17, Xpress].

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Buncombe County commissioners to lead the way locally by committing financially to putting conservation dollars on the ground.

Knowing that we are part of something much bigger than just what we are working on in Buncombe County is vital to our ability to keep each other inspired and for our ability to educate our leaders and citizens alike.

Taking some time to get familiar with the global 30-by-30 effort is worth doing. There has never been what seemed like such a crucial time for understanding how we can continue to feed, clothe and sustain ourselves without crushing the natural world to death. Jennifer Harrison, Buncombe County Soil & Water Conservation District director, also attended and mentioned that our Soil and Water Conservation District staff is currently going through training with a carbon farming pilot project that will be rolled out as we get more familiar with all that it involves.

If this resonates with you, please go to the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners’ webpage, where you can email your commissioners directly from there.

Thank you for your consideration of the proposed funding that Commissioner Wells has brought forward.

— William Hamilton Jr. Vice Chair, Buncombe County Soil and Water District Fairview

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Conservation crisis

It also demands sustainability and self-reliance. Because the local food movement is booming, we have so far retained much of the knowledge and ability to grow some of our own food. But that’s changing rapidly as farmland disappears to development: We’re losing capacity before we’ve even fully recognized its importance.

Step up now to save Buncombe County’s farmland

BY ROBERT TURNER

Buncombe County Commissioner Terri Wells’ proposal to substantially increase funding for land conservation offers abundant benefits: protecting biodiversity and mitigating climate change while improving food security, food sovereignty and community resilience. As a member of the county’s Land Conservation Advisory Board, I urge readers to contact their county commissioners to show support for this proposal.

Faced with significant development pressures, we must do what we can to protect some of the region’s natural habitat and biodiversity, as well as our most productive farmland.

Wells’ bold proposal calls for more than tripling county funding for land conservation, from the current $240,000 to $750,000 per year. The roughly $500,000 increase represents about 0.15% of the county’s 2020-21 general fund budget.

A SOUND INVESTMENT

The county money is primarily used to help cover transaction costs, including surveys and attorney fees, when a landowner voluntarily places a conservation easement on his or her property. Such easements prohibit future development of the land in perpetuity, while protecting and preserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems for future generations.

In her briefing in advance of the Feb. 16 Board of Commissioners meeting, Wells cited President Biden’s Jan. 27 executive order that calls for conserving 30% of the nation’s remaining natural spaces (including both land and water resources) by the year 2030 as part of an effort to mitigate climate change and habitat loss. The 30-by-30 target is based on scientific recommendations for addressing the rapid loss of biodiversity and using natural ecosystems to sequester atmospheric carbon. Wells believes Buncombe County can be a leader in this effort, setting an example for other counties to follow.

Conservation scientists say this aggressive approach is needed to halt a looming biodiversity crisis.

Due to a growing global population, increasing worldwide consumption, rapid habitat destruction and a warming planet, species have been going extinct at up to 1,000 times the estimated background rate seen over the past 10 million years, scientists say. The United Nations has warned that 1 million species are now at risk of extinction across the planet in what has been called a “sixth mass extinction.” Biden’s order aligns the U.S. with more than 50 countries that have already signed onto this global effort.

But both in Buncombe County and nationwide, much of the remaining undisturbed natural space and biodiversity exists on private land, and the cost of the surveys and legal work needed to conserve a parcel averages about $40,000. For an owner who’s interested in conserving land by voluntarily surrendering the right to potentially lucrative future development deals, that could constitute a big financial burden. Many would agree that the county should at least help cover those transaction costs, since we all benefit from preserving and protecting our region’s natural beauty and biodiversity. Although landowners are sometimes compensated for a portion of the value of the land in question, most of that money has come from federal, state and private grants funneled through local land trusts.

PRESERVING OUR FARMING HERITAGE

But conservation in Buncombe County isn’t just about habitat loss and biodiversity; it’s also about food sovereignty, food security and community resilience.

Conservation money helps preserve the region’s farmland as well as its watersheds and viewscapes. And by taking development out of the equation, “locking down” farmland with a conservation easement helps keep the land affordable for future generations of farmers.

This is critical, because rapid development and suburban sprawl are driving up the price of farmland and making it difficult, if not

“The cost of the surveys and legal work needed to conserve a parcel averages about $40,000.”

ROBERT TURNER impossible, for young farmers in the region to acquire needed property.

The cost of land is integral to a farming operation’s profitability. In some areas, the only people who can afford to pay current market prices are developers.

Farming has been an important part of the local economy for generations, and the growth of farmers markets and the farm-to-table trend in restaurants is evidence that we still value farming and local food production. But rapid growth and development threaten that economy and way of life.

Losing the ability to grow some of our food locally increases dependence on imports from faraway places. A 2002 study by the Worldwatch Institute found that food typically travels 1,500 miles or more from farm to table.

But the industrialized food system, which depends heavily on chemicals, fossil fuels and transportation networks, is simply not sustainable for the long term. Protecting and preserving our production capability is prudent behavior that also benefits the local economy, creating jobs and enhancing our quality of life. In the future, resilient communities will be those that have chosen to preserve and protect their agricultural sector.

The future involves way more than green homes and electric cars.

IT STARTS WITH YOU

Biden’s pledge would provide some money through federal programs to compensate farmers and others for placing conservation easements on their land. Studies by the American Farmland Trust have found that over the last several decades, the United States lost tens of millions of acres of open land to development, including some of the nation’s most productive and versatile farmland.

Conservation easements are one way to preserve farmland and our ability to produce our own food.

Another simple step that anyone can take is to buy local food when you can. It doesn’t have to be everything you eat: Just adding some local food to your diet will go a long way toward helping our farmers stay in business.

Shop at the local farmers market, ask your favorite restaurants and grocery stores to source more produce locally, and try to “eat your view.”

The future will belong to those individuals, families, businesses and political leaders who develop a deeper understanding of the transformative power of the natural world — and those who balance development with sustainability and community resilience.

Arden-based writer and farmer Robert Turner is the author of Carrots Don’t Grow on Trees: Building Sustainable and Resilient Communities. He serves on the Buncombe County Land Conservation Advisory Board and the board of the Organic Growers School. X

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NEWS

Room to grow?

ACS preschool changes draw commissioner, community critiques

BY DANIEL WALTON dwalton@mountainx.com The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners has named increased access to high-quality early childhood education among its most important goals in the county’s 2025 strategic plan. Unsurprisingly, board members thus had serious concerns about an Asheville City Schools move that would close seven preschool classrooms at the district’s Asheville Primary School campus.

At a March 16 board meeting, ACS Assistant Superintendent Shane Cassida said that the system plans to close the APS building due to its poor condition and a projected $6 million repair bill for high-priority needs like a new heating and cooling system. The district would then redistribute the APS preschool classrooms across other elementary schools and Asheville Housing Authority developments.

Beyond addressing facility concerns, Superintendent Gene Freeman told Xpress in a March 17 interview, the new classroom locations would better respond to the needs and wishes expressed by Black families, thereby helping ACS attract more preschool students of color. According to the system’s most recent available data, 55% of Black students were below the testing cutoff for kindergarten readiness in 2019, compared with just 22% of white pupils.

At 21%, the enrollment of ACS preschoolers who are Black for the 2020-21 school year exceeds both the system’s overall Black enrollment rate of 18% and Asheville’s Black population of roughly 11%. But that percentage has steadily declined over recent years: In the 2017-18 school year, ACS preschool students were 30% Black. Preschool enrollment of all students of color has dropped from 58% to 27% during the same period.

“When we look at populating our pre-K and building that foundation, we should be looking for those kids that have the greatest needs. By the stats, it’s African American students,” said Freeman, who is white.

“Hopefully, and eventually with the county’s help, we’ll have pre-K for everybody one day. But for right 8

MARCH 24-30, 2021

PRIMARY MOVER: Asheville City Schools leaders plan to close Asheville Primary School in West Asheville and relocate its current preschool classrooms to other schools and Asheville Housing Authority developments. Photo by Daniel Walton now, we’ve got to have programs that build that foundation so that when kids get into the early grades, they have that skill set built.”

Board of Commissioners Vice Chair Al Whitesides, however, challenged that justification. The board’s only Black member and a former member of the Asheville City Board of Education, he called the APS campus in West Asheville “an ideal location,” saying that the vast majority of Asheville’s disadvantaged residents live within a 3-mile radius of the school.

Whitesides proceeded to blast the district’s leaders for how they had communicated their intentions. A draft plan for preschool relocation was sent to APS staff and families at 4:37 p.m. March 16 — less than 30 minutes before the start of the county board meeting and well after the registration deadline for public comment had passed. A special meeting of the school board to hear public comment on the APS closure was also scheduled for the same time, making it difficult for those interested in the topic to follow both meetings.

“You spring something this critical on a whole community at the last minute,” Whitesides said. “I have a serious problem with the way the superintendent and the school

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board have handled this, because it’s not transparent at all. There’s no way I would endorse them closing the primary school at this time.”

SPACE INVADERS?

Community Action Opportunities, an Asheville-based nonprofit that currently operates three Head Start preschool sites in public housing developments, was also surprised to learn of the school closure plans, according to a document submitted to Buncombe County’s Early Childhood and Development Committee on March 12. CAO noted that the ACS proposal to move classrooms into the Lonnie D. Burton Center, located near the Livingston and Erskine-Walton public housing neighborhoods, would displace existing services for 54 children. “It is difficult to understand how reducing or supplanting services will reduce the achievement gap rather than contribute to its continuation,” the nonprofit wrote.

Melissa Hedt, the ACS deputy superintendent, told Xpress that CAO’s preschool programs operate for fewer hours than would the district’s classrooms. She added that running its own programs in Burton Center would allow the school system to “have a better handle

on our own students’ kindergarten readiness.”

The district’s overall preschool plan for the 2021-22 school year includes 12 classrooms and 216 slots, up from 11 classrooms and 198 slots prior to COVID-19. One of those new classrooms, accounting for 18 students, is designated as “TBD based on enrollment.” The numbers, sent to APS parents and staff the morning of March 19, differ from those in a draft plan released March 16, which claimed that 233 preschool slots would be available in the next school year.

District spokesperson AshleyMichelle Thublin said the preschool projections had been revised after several parents had reached out regarding the draft plan. Pepi Acebo, president of the Montford North Star Academy Parent-Teacher Organization and one of three school board candidates endorsed by the Asheville City Association of Educators, told Xpress on March 18 that the district had excluded two existing APS Montessori pre-K/ kindergarten classrooms from its pre-pandemic capacity numbers; the changed plan explicitly notes that Montessori programs are not included in the capacity projections.

“In an effort to be as transparent as possible and ‘compare apples to apples,’ the district’s Curriculum and Instruction Department, along with the preschool staff, have created a more detailed page, which includes numbers from both 20192020 (Pre-COVID) and 2020-2021, as well as projections for next school year,” Thublin explained about the new plan.

The county commissioners did not approve language acknowledging the APS closure plan on March 16; board Chair Brownie Newman noted that he and his colleagues had not seen the document they were being asked to sign prior to their meeting. The board instead tabled the discussion until Tuesday, April 6. Asheville’s school board is then expected to take a formal vote regarding APS later in April.

“My great hope, as we head into a period where the school board will be deliberating, is that there can be the time and space for the conversations that need to happen to ensure that all current classrooms have a safe, healthy place to be,” said Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara. “The path we’re on right now is a collision that puts us backwards and actually takes classrooms offline.”

With additional reporting by Virginia Daffron X

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MARCH 24-30, 2021

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NEWS

Use your words

Parent’s story highlights difficulties connecting with Asheville City Schools

BY VIRGINIA DAFFRON

Upon hearing more details of Shea’s situation, Freeman took her phone number and, according to Shea, called her the following day.

“I have more insight into what [Freeman] is struggling with,” Shea told Xpress after the conversation.

“And I feel more assured that my daughter will not lose any of her services even if her preschool classroom is relocated.”

The superintendent, she continued, “is doing his utmost in challenging times.” Still, Shea said, “I feel sad that my child will lose her familiar classroom, familiar playground and familiar garden at APS. But I am confident that she will not lose her community of teachers, aides, therapists and friends.”

For his part, Freeman called Asheville “a great place” after the March 16 meeting but wondered about his potential successor at the end of his four-year contract: “Who are we going to get to come in here next?

“It’s the most challenging district I’ve ever worked in, and I’ve worked in some challenging districts. And it’s the civility. It’s just very different.” X

vdaffron@mountainx.com Sara Shea has done her best to weigh in on the proposed closure of Asheville Primary School, where her daughter, Ivy, is a student.

But as a single mom, Shea hasn’t been able to make a lot of the evening community input sessions. That’s the time of day when Ivy, 4, is wrapping up the interventions she needs to address developmental delays resulting from her rare genetic condition, Wiedemann-Steiner syndrome.

Shea’s daughter is one of about 1,000 people in the world diagnosed with the syndrome, making her “literally one in a billion,” her mom says. The services Ivy has received at the APS preschool have helped her thrive despite her challenges.

But pandemic-related shutdowns interrupted those services at a critical point in Ivy’s development.

Without other child care options, the shutdowns also forced Shea to leave her real estate job and rely on unemployment.

Unable to get answers about what the proposed school closure would mean for her daughter, Shea says she has written multiple letters.

And at a March 16 public hearing, Shea described her concerns to the Asheville City Board of Education.

“I’ve tried to comment with Superintendent Gene Freeman and left messages three separate times with his secretary to discuss my daughter’s return to school and the future of her preschool program and special services within the program,” Shea said.

“I’ve never even received a call back from his secretary,” she continued. “I’m disappointed that no one returns my calls or seems to care about my daughter’s success.”

Holding the squirming child, Shea said, “She was really devastated when things shut down for COVID. I mean, literally banging her head against the wall and giving herself black-and-blue marks because she didn’t understand why her schedule suddenly changed and her whole routine collapsed.

“I just want to have some more conversations about special needs and what that will look like if things change,” Shea concluded.

Speaking with Xpress after the meeting, Freeman cited Shea’s comments as an example of what he describes as a “lack of civility” in 10

MARCH 24-30, 2021

SMALL SIZE, BIG MESSAGE: Four-year-old Ivy Shea loves going to preschool at Asheville Primary School. Her mom, Sara Shea, says Ivy has thrived at the school. Photo courtesy of Shea the Asheville community. “I mean, when I took this job, had I known how difficult the community was, I’m not so sure that it would have been something that I was eager to jump into,” he said. (In his previous role as the superintendent of the Fox Chapel School District in Pennsylvania, Freeman sent cease-and-desist letters to at least six parents who criticized him on social media.)

“When I hear, ‘I called your office three times,’ and there’s Kim [Jones, listed as an administrative assistant on the district’s website] right there — I’ve never received a phone call,” Freeman said. “It’s things like that.

It’s just a very hard community.”

Freeman invited Xpress to a meeting at the district’s central office the following day to discuss ACS’ preschool plans. Melissa Hedt, recently promoted to deputy superintendent,

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was among the seven staff members who participated. Addressing a flurry of online discussion, she said that, instead of spreading false information on social media, community members should contact the system directly with questions.

“We’re not being called in, we’re being called out,” Hedt said.

Asked again about Shea, who had separately confirmed to Xpress her repeated attempts to reach district administrators by phone, the superintendent insisted, “We never had a phone call.”

Freeman said it would be more appropriate for parents to share their concerns outside of a public forum.

“Anybody could walk up to me and say, ‘I called you, and you didn’t call me back.’ You don’t have to announce it.”

MOTHER LOAD: Sara Shea says she feels guilty about not being able to participate in more of the public discussions around the future of Asheville Primary School. As a single mom without evening child care, she finds it difficult to attend those sessions.

Shown here with Ivy, 4, and Mazy, the family dog. Photo courtesy of Shea

Out of order

Haywood Street restrooms face permanent closure

BY BROOKE RANDLE brandle@mountainx.com When you gotta go, you gotta go, a necessity for people of every age, race, ability and economic situation.

For those visiting and hanging out in downtown Asheville, however, answering the call of nature is often inconvenient or simply impossible, especially since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered many public and privately owned facilities last March.

But as with so many problems that affect us all, this one impacts people experiencing homelessness far more.

Of the various downtown bathroom options available prior to the pandemic, only the city-owned facility at 29 Haywood St. was available 24/7, says Jean Gibbs, who has been without permanent housing in Asheville for two years. Since it closed, Gibbs and others who are unsheltered have had few options.

At night, “We have nowhere to go, and it’s horrible,” says Gibbs, 44. “[The shelter at] ABCCM is locked at night, so we can’t go there. The one at Haywood Congregation, the door is broken.”

While some facilities have reopened in the months since the pandemic began, the 29 Haywood St. restroom has not. If and when it does resume operation, city officials say they’re unlikely to provide around-the-clock access.

“They’re basically leaving the homeless to use the bathroom in the street,” Gibbs says — a situation that poses health, sanitation and quality-of-life risks for everyone who lives, works or visits downtown.

COSTLY AMENITY

The city of Asheville acquired the 29 Haywood St. property in 1989, going on to use it as office space.

In 2007, the building’s restrooms opened to the public MondaySaturday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m., according to Dana Frankel, the city’s downtown specialist. When the Asheville Police Department created a new downtown unit in 2014, officers moved into space in the building.

In the years that followed, homelessness activists and downtown business owners began advocating

BATHROOM BREAK: Public restrooms are used by people from all walks of life, but the amenities are of particular importance for unhoused people who otherwise may lack access to running water and indoor plumbing. Photo courtesy of BeLoved Asheville for expanded restroom hours, noting the lack of other options. At night, that meant that people had to go where they could — sometimes in stairwells or alleys.

City Council approved funding for 24-hour restroom operation in 2018, more than doubling the cost of maintaining the facility to nearly half a million dollars per year.

While the increased access was hailed by human service providers and business interests alike, it also opened the door to property damage and illegal activity.

“We had some issues,” Frankel says, recalling one incident in which a sink was ripped from the bathroom wall.

According to the city’s crime database, the block on which 29 Haywood St. is located experienced a 128% increase in service calls between 2018 and 2019, the year following the expansion of restroom hours. Drug-related calls went up 400% over the same period.

Meanwhile, in response to a large number of officer resignations, the APD consolidated its downtown and South Asheville districts, says Christina Hallingse, spokesperson for the department. The 29 Haywood St. substation closed in fall 2020.

Frankel maintains that the Police Department’s move didn’t contribute to the city’s decision to delay the

reopening of the building’s restroom facilities. While no final decision has been made, she says, “If and when they do reopen, it will likely be under limited hours of operation.”

TEMPORARY MEASURES

Following the COVID-19-related closure of public restrooms at 29 Haywood St., Pack Square Park and the downtown transit station on Coxe Avenue last March, the city installed portable toilets and hand-washing stations in Pritchard Park and elsewhere (see sidebar, “Where to ‘go’”).

While grateful for that stopgap measure, Jean Gibbs says the facilities don’t replace what’s been lost.

“They need to keep the 24-hour bathroom open that has running water,” she says. “I know that some folks need to take more personal care and not rip the bathrooms up, but the city needs to do something.

Not all of us are bad. And we all deserve something clean to use.”

Guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention echoes Gibbs’ view of the importance of access to running water for people who are unsheltered during the pandemic. “Ensure nearby restroom facilities have functional water taps, are stocked with hand hygiene materials (soap, drying materials) and bath tissue, and remain open to people experiencing homelessness 24 hours per day,” the CDC’s website instructs local officials.

Limited bathroom options can also lead to legal trouble, adds the Rev. Amy Cantrell, co-director of advocacy organization BeLoved Asheville, and the consequences can go beyond misdemeanor charges.

“It can be considered a sex crime, public urination, and we know that that’s dramatically different than other crimes in that category,” she explains. “It can affect people’s housing and employment.”

LOO-KING TO THE FUTURE

Asheville is far from alone among cities in its struggle to provide access to bathroom facilities. New York, for example, has only one public restroom for every 11,707 people, according to a 2020 study from the UNC School of Law. Portland, Ore., developed a freestanding solution — known as

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N EWS the Portland Loo — that’s been deployed in over 20 cities to meet the needs of different users in the urban environment. The 7-by-10foot structure provides enough room for a wheelchair, bike or stroller; its single toilet connects directly to the sewer line. There are no mirrors, and blue interior lighting makes it difficult for intravenous drug users to find a vein for injection. Handwashing facilities are provided outside the structure.

“It’s a lot of the issues that we deal with that these facilities were designed for,” Frankel says. Though plans are “not quite ready for prime time,” she reveals that the city is studying the possibility of installing something similar downtown.

The community will have a chance to weigh in before any final decisions are reached, Frankel emphasizes. “We want to engage with the community to make sure that it’s something that people want and would welcome,” she says. “We

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think that it would be an important service to provide for various user groups and so we are taking steps in that direction.”

PRICY POTTIES

The loos don’t come cheap: Getting a unit up and running costs about $300,000. Then come the bills for ongoing management, maintenance and repair. San Diego removed one toilet structure in 2016, just over a year after it was installed, citing a 130% increase in police service calls to the area. City officials also said maintenance and repair costs were more than double initial estimates, according to a report from The San Diego Union-Tribune.

“I hear pretty frequently about the need and I do understand that it’s a priority for downtown businesses,” Frankel explains. “It still takes prioritization and funding.”

Meghan Rogers confirms that increasing the number of public restrooms downtown has topped the list of local priorities (second only to parking) throughout her nine years as executive director of the Asheville Downtown Association.

“I get the question almost every day of where people can find public restrooms. To me, that says that there is a need,” says Rogers, whose office is located at 29 Haywood St., adjacent to the now-closed facility.

“We’ve had multiple conversations with the city and have indicated that we would like to see more options for people.”

Anya Tucker, 20, works part time at Ben & Jerry’s on Haywood Street.

Customers ask where they can find a restroom “about 10 times a day — on a slow day,” she says.

With the 29 Haywood restrooms closed, Tucker directs customers

to the portable toilets in Pritchard Park. “But, you know, moms would look at me while pushing a stroller by themselves, and they’d be like, ‘A port-a-potty, really? That’s the best you have?’” she notes.

Could Buncombe County’s occupancy tax revenue — funded by a 6% tax on short-term accommodations, which totaled nearly $18.77 million in 2020 — help provide restroom amenities, especially considering the large number of out-of-town visitors that flock to downtown Asheville?

State law requires that a quarter of that money be used to support tourism-related capital projects.

No, says Explore Asheville spokesperson Kathi Petersen. She maintains that dedicated public restroom facilities don’t qualify for occupancy-tax funding support, adding that the quasi-governmental Tourism Development Authority can’t say whether the number of public restrooms downtown is adequate for the city’s more than 11 million visitors per year.

“Public restrooms are managed by the city, and we trust they rely on data and other information on usage, maintenance needs and so on, to support their decision-making,” she says.

For Cantrell, it all comes back to basic human needs.

“This is one of the issues that we found that really cuts across every person from every walk of life. It’s one of those things that unites us — that we all need access to restrooms, to that comfort and dignity,” she says.

“This is something that we as a city with lots of people, particularly in our downtown area, need to look at expanding and not compressing or going back to where we were some years ago.” X

Where to ‘go’ In normal times, the city of Asheville operates three public restroom facilities, not including those at 29 Haywood St. Pack Square Pavilion, 80 Court Plaza: Originally installed in 2012, the facility reopened in mid-February after closing in March 2020.

7 a.m.-3:30 p.m daily.

Asheville Redefines Transit Station, 49 Coxe Ave.: Reopened in early October. Monday-Friday, 6 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 7 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Sunday/ holidays, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Biltmore Avenue Garage, 60 S. Lexington Ave.: The facility remains closed as of press time, and a date for reopening has not been set. City staff plan to reopen the restroom for limited hours depending on staffing availability.

Portable toilets and separate handwashing stations were also installed in Pack Square, Pritchard Park, Wall Street and the ART Transit Center in late March 2020 to give residents, tourists and unhoused people more options during the pandemic. As of early spring, only two portable toilets remain along Wall Street and in Pritchard Park, according to city officials. X

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MARCH 24-30, 2021

13

BUNCOMBE BEAT

$51M in federal COVID relief on way to Buncombe For all of Buncombe County’s dire projections at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, its government is currently in healthy financial shape: Fiscal year 2019-20 revenues came in $2 million over budget, and instead of spending a projected $15 million in fund balance, the county actually increased its coffers by $2.5 million.

Thanks to a new federal pandemic relief bill, that picture of health is about to get even brighter — over $51 million brighter.

As explained by Rachael Nygaard, Buncombe’s strategic partnerships director, during a March 16 meeting of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, the money comes from the recently passed American Rescue Plan, which includes over $65 billion in direct aid to counties across the country. Because the funds are meant to encourage general recovery from the pandemic instead of just responding to its immediate threat, she said, local governments will have substantial spending leeway.

Like a $7.9 million federal grant Buncombe received in February, the new money could be used for direct assistance to households that have been financially harmed by the pandemic. But it could also go toward extra pay for essential workers or investments in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure. “We have some more flexibility to use funds to address the economic impacts of COVID-19, rather than just direct COVID-19 response to the public health emergency,” Nygaard said.

The funds, equal to roughly a quarter of Buncombe’s budgeted property tax revenue for the current fiscal year and more than its budgeted spending on general government administration, represent by far the largest pot of federal support yet provided

14

MARCH 24-30, 2021

THANKS, UNCLE SAM: Buncombe County is slated to receive over $51 million from the federal American Rescue Plan, a relief package meant to encourage economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Getty Images to the county during the pandemic.

Brownie Newman, the county board’s Democratic chair, said he was excited by how the aid might further projects that had long been delayed due to lack of money.

“It’s very significant,” Newman said.

“I’ve been in local government for a long time, and it’s pretty unprecedented, in terms of just the level of resources.”

Commissioners will likely schedule a dedicated work session and opportunities for public input on the use of the funds over the next 60-90 days before setting formal spending plans. According to federal law, all of the money must be used by the end of 2024.

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IN OTHER NEWS

The first reading of a proposed county nondiscrimination ordinance drew several commenters supporting the measure and no speakers in opposition. Those backing the language included Asheville City Council member Kim Roney, Chair Judy Maddox of the Western North Carolina Sierra Club and Tina White, executive director of Blue Ridge Pride.

“Because there were no laws like this ordinance, nor leaders like you, I could never assume safety outside my home,” said White, a transgender woman, regarding her experience after transitioning several years ago.

“You too would live in fear if you could not take it for granted that the people and institutions in power were

committed to protecting your ability to live.”

And Commissioner Parker Sloan, a Democrat, suggested strengthening the civil penalties for violation of the ordinance from the currently proposed $100-per-day fine. Instead, he advocated for a graduated approach that would levy a fine of $250 for the second offense and $500 for the third and subsequent offenses within a calendar year, levels he said were in line with those of other county ordinances.

Sloan’s colleagues did not share their opinions on his proposal during the meeting. The board is scheduled to further discuss the ordinance on Tuesday, April 6, and may take a vote on the matter then.

— Daniel Walton X

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MARCH 24-30, 2021

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COMMUNITY CALENDAR MARCH 24-APRIL 2, 2021 For a full list of community calendar guidelines, please visit mountainx.com/calendar. For questions about free listings, call 828-251-1333, ext. 137.

For questions about paid calendar listings, please call 828-251-1333, ext. 320.

Clubland is back!

In-Person Events = Shaded All other events are virtual

Council on Aging: Introduction to Medicare How to avoid penalties and save money.

TH (3/25), 2pm, Registration required, Free, coabc.org Steady Collective Syringe Access Outreach Free naloxone, syringes and educational material on harm reduction.

TU (3/30), 2pm, Firestorm Books & Coffee, 610 Haywood Rd

ART BMC Museum + Arts Center: Faith in Arts A conversation with dancer Krisha Marcano.

WE (3/24), 1pm, Free, avl.mx/95q

Asheville Public Art & Cultural Commission Regular meeting.

TH (3/25), 5pm, avl.mx/960 Asheville Housing & Community Development Committee Special meeting.

FR (3/26), 9am, avl.mx/8cr

MUSIC & DANCE

See Pg. 27

WELLNESS

Slow Art Friday: Clear as Mud Discussion led by master docent Sarah Reincke at Asheville Art Museum.

FR (4/2), 12pm, Registration required, $10, avl.mx/95m

Asheville Art Museum: Conversation with the Curator Featuring Scott Schweigert on the exhibit Across the Atlantic.

TH (3/25), 7pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/94m Slow Art Friday: Listening to the Animals Discussion led by touring docents Hank Bovee and Jim Crook at Asheville Art Museum.

FR (3/26), 12pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/94o Art Travels: National Nordic Museum Tour led by Asheville Art Museum.

TH (4/1), 7pm, Registration required, $20, avl.mx/95L

Asheville Affordable Housing Advisory Committee Regular meeting.

TH (4/1), 9:30am, avl.mx/961

Center for Cultural Preservation: An Evening with Dom Flemons Traditional folk music and storytelling.

TH (3/25), 8:30pm, Registration required, $20/person or $35/household, avl.mx/95n UNCA: Drag as Art & Activism Performances and discussion with local drag artists.

MO (3/29), 3:30pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/95v

LITERARY Fostering Racial Justice Book Club: History of Ethnic Cleansing in Georgia Led by author Ann Miller Woodford.

TH (3/25), 1pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/95w Author Meet & Greet Featuring Bob and Jacob Morgan Plott, authors of Smoky Mountain Railways.

SA (3/27), 2pm, Blue Ridge Books, 428 Hazelwood Ave, Waynesville

Asheville Civil Service Board Regular meeting.

TH (4/1), 2:30pm, avl.mx/962 Asheville Greenway Committee Regular meeting.

TH (4/1), 3:30pm, avl.mx/963

AMERICAN SONGSTER: The Center for Cultural Preservation will present Grammy Award-winning musician Dom Flemons in a virtual benefit concert. An expert player of the banjo, guitar and harmonica, Flemons’ old-time Americana sound draws from a range of traditional and contemporary influences. “Alongside the great tunes from Ireland and Scotland were the African American and Native American traditions,” he says. “What makes American music American is all that stuff coming together.” The show will stream live Thursday, March 25, 7:30 p.m. $20/person or $35/household. avl.mx/95n. Photo courtesy of the Center for Cultural Preservation The Unseen Scene: Writing the Body into Place Discussion on the craft of writing led by author Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle.

TU (3/30), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/95u

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THEATER & FILM The Magnetic Theatre: Playing With Our Food Series of short comedy plays, including Three Women and an Onion, The Last Beans in the Box and Cookies for Bethany.

TH (3/18), 7:30pm, $23, avl.mx/93z Beer City Sisters: Time of the Month!

Weekly variety show.

SU (3/28), 7pm, Free, beercitysisters. org

Montford Park Players Open Auditions: A Midsummer Night's Dream Register: avl.mx/968.

TH (4/1), 12pm, Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre, 100 Gay St

CIVICS & ACTIVISM Stay up to date on city and county government happenings by subscribing to the Xpress daily newsletter: avl.mx/8st

Asheville City Council • Budget work session.

TU (3/23), 2:30pm • Formal meeting.

TU (3/23), 5pm, avl.mx/7b5 Asheville Multimodal Transportation Commission Regular meeting.

WE (3/24), 10am, avl.mx/966 Asheville Regional Housing Consortium Regular meeting.

WE (3/25), 10:30am, avl.mx/967

Asheville Mountain Community Capital Fund Committee Regular meeting.

FR (4/2), 9am, avl.mx/965

ANIMALS Friends of the WNC Nature Center: Critter Trivia Night “All About Appalachia” themed questions.

TH (3/25), 7pm, Registration required, $5, avl.mx/91o

BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY Marketing with a Bang Workshop by Western Women's Business Center.

WE (3/24), 12pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/95r SCORE: Social Media for Business Digital marketing webinar.

WE (3/24), 6pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/95t

Preparing for a Small Business Loan Workshop by Carolina Small Business.

TU (3/30), 12pm, Registration required, avl.mx/95s

CLASSES, MEETINGS & EVENTS

WNCHA & OLLI: Cherokee Mound & Village Sites History lecture and Q&A by Dr. Ben Steere, author of The Fire Yet Burns in These Great Mounds: Archaeology and Resilience in the Cherokee Heartland.

TH (3/25), 6:30pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/8zy

UNCA Critical Perspectives Series: Native Southern Literature Lecture by Kristin Squint.

WE (3/24), 5:30pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/94w

UNCA: Biennial Queer Studies Conference Workshops and presentations on the theme Fitting In and Sticking Out: Queer [In]Visibilities and the Perils of Inclusion.

FR (3/26), 9am, Registration required, $20, avl.mx/94x

MemoryCare: Emotional Rescue for Caregivers Half-day workshop for caregivers of loved ones with dementia.

TH (3/25), 1pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/94n

Old Buncombe County Genealogical Society: Ask the Expert How to use OBCGS digital collections, library books, family and local history files.

SA (3/27), 2pm, Registration required, Free, avl.mx/95o

FESTIVALS Pop-up Market on the Lawn Local craft and vintage vendors.

SA (3/27), 8am-2pm, Gotta Have It Antiques, 60 Monticello Rd, Weaverville Heart of Brevard: Arts in March Celebration of live music and public art.

SA-SU (3/27-28), 10am-5pm, Downtown Brevard Junk-O-Rama Vintage Flea Market Vintage clothing and records.

SA-SU (3/27-28), 11am-5pm, Fleetwood's, 496 Haywood Rd

Jackson Arts Market Live demonstrations by local artists.

SA (3/27), 2-6pm, 533 W Main St, Sylva

VOLUNTEERING Cone Manor Hydrangea Crew Workday Pruning and debris removal. Register: avl.mx/969.

WE-SA (3/24-27), 1pm, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway, Milepost 294, Blowing Rock Edible Park Community Work Day Mulching, pruning and clearing invasive plants.

FR (3/26), 2:30pm, Dr. George Washington Carver Edible Park, 30 George Washington Carver Ave

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MARCH 24-30, 2021

17

HEALTH ROUNDUP

by Molly Horak | mhorak@mountainx.com

Henderson County rolls out new accessible buses The wheels on Henderson County’s new buses are going round and round, to the tune of 80,000 projected passenger trips annually. In February, Henderson County and Apple Country Public Transit debuted six new 17-passenger buses, complete with electric lifts and space for two wheelchair users to ride comfortably.

The new fleet will supplement Western Carolina Community Action’s three existing bus routes in Henderson County. Funding for the expansion came from a combination of Federal Transit Administration grants and county funds.

Each bus runs on compressed natural gas and comes equipped with new fare boxes, message boards and technology to provide ridership data across all routes. Western Carolina Community Action will continue to use its existing fleet to provide transportation for seniors and residents with disabilities, as well as transportation to COVID-19 vaccination sites, medical appointments and rural transit service, the nonprofit notes in a press release.

Paramedicine team helps break overdose cycle In most instances, dialing 911 will summon a bevy of fire trucks, ambulances and police cars. But in Buncombe County, individuals dealing with substance overdoses can now ask for the Community Paramedic and Post Overdose response team, a pilot program committed to reducing overdose deaths.

The unit consists of three community paramedics, one mental health clinician, one peer support specialist and one program manager. As of Feb. 25, the team had connected 195 people who had experienced heroin and fentanyl overdoses with peer support resources. Of those indi-

Health happenings

RIDE ON: Henderson County purchased six new buses in February to supplement existing transit routes. Each bus can hold 17 passengers, including space for two wheelchair users. Photo courtesy of Western Carolina Community Action viduals, 70 subsequently enrolled in an active rehabilitation facility, medication-assisted treatment or mental health program.

“The model we would like to move toward is to be more engaged in mental health response, to provide wraparound services with social workers and mental health specialists dispatched through our 911 call center to get the right services to the right patient at the right time,” Buncombe County Emergency Services Director Taylor Jones said in a press release.

Substance Free Youth is offering a free virtual event

“Weeding out the Myths about Marijuana” April 22nd | 4-4:50pm for teens | 5-6pm for adults Featuring speaker Kryia Lendzion

•

Offered in English & Spanish

For more info, please visit www.substancefreeyouth.com 18

MARCH 24-30, 2021

“During the pandemic, Babies Need Bottoms initiated partnerships with mobile food delivery programs through MANNA FoodBank and the YMCA of WNC,” said Co-Executive Director Alicia Heacock in a press release. “One hundred percent of the time, if a family is struggling to afford food, they can’t afford diapers.”

MOUNTAINX.COM

Need rises dramatically for WNC diaper bank

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, roughly one in three American families struggled to purchase diapers for their little ones. That need ballooned with the onset of the COVID19 pandemic, reports Western North Carolina diaper bank Babies Need Bottoms. In 2020, the nonprofit saw demand increase by 393%.

Last year, Babies Need Bottoms sent 300,000 diapers to roughly 8,500 children across the region. Monthly diaper distribution jumped from 5,000 in July 2019 to more than 18,000 by July 2020. And the need isn’t going away: The organization received requests for over 50,000 diapers in the first two months of 2021 alone.

• Gibbins Advisors, the independent monitor overseeing HCA Healthcare’s compliance with the conditions outlined in the sale of Mission Health, will host an online webinar on Wednesday, April 7, at 5:30 p.m. Attendees can register at avl.mx/95h.

• April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. To raise awareness, Hendersonville nonprofit Safelight will distribute blue pinwheels from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, April 7 to symbolize prevention efforts across the community. The informal open house will be held at the Believe Child Advocacy Center, 722 Fifth Avenue W., Hendersonville.

• North Carolina’s Council on Developmental Disabilities is seeking feedback on its 2022-26 Five Year State Plan. A short public input survey (avl.mx/95i) will remain open through Wednesday, April 14.

• UNC Asheville’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute will host two free lectures on meditation for community members of all ages.

On Monday, April 12, meditation teacher Bob Roth will discuss the benefits of meditation and mindfulness. And neuroscientist Fred Travis will take the virtual stage Monday, April 26, to discuss the brain’s response to meditation.

To register, contact the Asheville Transcendental Meditation Center at 828-254-4350 or by emailing meditationasheville@tm.org.

Awards and accolades • Henderson County is one of the healthiest counties in the state, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s 2020 County Health Rankings. The report analyzes mortality and morbidity data, as well as health behaviors, clinical care options, social and economic factors and the physical environment.

• Haywood County Public Health welcomes Sarah Henderson as the department’s new health director.

Already a Haywood County resident, Henderson joins the team

inspection program,” according to a press release.

COVID-19 response continues

TOP-TIER TEAM: Four Seasons Home Care was recently awarded the Best of Home Care — Leader in Excellence award from caregiver feedback platform Home Care Pulse. Photo courtesy of Four Seasons following a stint as an assistant professor at Western Carolina University’s School of Nursing.

Garron Bradish, Haywood’s interim health director, will continue to coordinate the county’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

• Vaya Health CEO Brian Ingraham was awarded the 2020 Director’s Award by the Hendersonvllebased Marketing Association for Rehabilitation Centers. The award recognizes people “whose work,

action or advocacy has made a lasting impact upon the economic and social quality of life for people with a disability or other disadvantage.”

• Four Seasons Home Care received the Best of Home Care — Leader in Excellence award from Home Care Pulse, the highest recognition offered by the caregiver feedback platform. “It is a clear reflection of the dedication we have to hiring and training the best caregivers to provide compassionate, quality care

to our clients,” said Four Seasons director Mary Jo Powers in a press release. “We are proud to be the only home care agency in WNC to have achieved this honor.”

• AdventHealth Hendersonville’s Laboratory Services is now accredited by the College of American Pathologists. The federal government recognizes this accreditation as “being equal-to or more-stringent-than the government’s own

• Durham-based nonprofit VacCorps is looking for 200 local volunteers to support COVID-19 vaccination sites across Western North Carolina. Volunteers will help greet and check in patients, clean facilities, restock supplies and schedule appointments. For more information, visit avl.mx/96a.

Hendersonville Health • The Department is now scheduling COVID-19 vaccinations over phone, text and email. The new process allows individuals to easily remove themselves from the waitlist if they are able to get a vaccine elsewhere.

• Individuals with high-risk medical conditions, those experiencing homelessness and incarcerated people are now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine under Group 4 of the state’s vaccine rollout. All other essential workers will become eligible on Wednesday, April 7. X

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19

GREEN SCENE

Somewhere safe

New children’s book highlights wildlife crossing project

BY MOLLY HORAK mhorak@mountainx.com Sometimes, it takes an anthropomorphic critter to humanize what’s going on down the road.

Look no further than Bear and Deer, two best friends living on Piney Knob, a made-up mountain near the North Carolina and Tennessee border. Both characters in A Search For Safe Passage, a new children’s book by eastern Tennessee-based author Frances Figart, are terrified of the “Human Highway,” where “huge, racing metal boxes with wheels” make it impossible for the animals to cross to the other side of the gorge.

In reality, the Human Highway is Interstate 40, and the journey Bear, Deer and their forest friends embark on is one that animals trying to cross face on a regular basis, Figart explains. And just as the fictional characters look for ways to safely bypass speeding cars and trucks, local conservation groups are pushing for animal-friendly pathways across the road.

“We can’t let roadkill just be this elephant in the room and not deal with it,” says Figart. “We hope this book will inspire other people

ANIMAL ADVOCATE: Author Frances Figart has always had a soft spot for animals. That passion is on full display in her debut children’s book, A Search for Safe Passage. The story follows best friends Bear and Deer as they look for a way to cross a busy highway. Cover illustration by Emma DuFort to raise awareness in their own communities about the need to help animals travel safely to find food and mates and habitat.”

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As a child growing up in eastern Kentucky, Figart remembers feeling upset when she saw animals killed on mountain roads. She tapped into those memories over the six weekends it took to write her debut children’s book, thinking the whole time about the kind of story she would have wanted to read as a kid with her own mother.

One distinct challenge was the subject matter, inherently dark for small children. While Figart wanted to accurately portray animal mortality, she made a conscious effort to keep the tale from becoming too gruesome.

Most of the story’s characters have memories of a friend or family member who was killed by a car, but those deaths are not described in detail.

“We all know what it looks like to see a dead animal on the road,” Figart says. “I tried to leave it more nebulous and less graphic.”

But Figart’s effort to save animal lives goes beyond the pages of her book. In February, she and six conservation groups launched Safe Passage: The I-40 Pigeon River Gorge Crossing Project, a collaborative effort to collect data, fundraise and implement wild-

life crossings along a 28-mile stretch of interstate linking Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee.

Over the last 16 years, traffic volume along this stretch of highway has increased by 43%, the coalition reports. More than 26,000 vehicles pass through the corridor each day — as do many bears, white-tailed deer, elk, bobcats, coyotes and a host of smaller species traveling between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and surrounding public lands.

From 2017-2019, the N.C. Department of Transportation responded to 3,437 wildlife-vehicle collisions in the 18 westernmost counties of North Carolina. Those collisions resulted in more than $10.5 million in property damage and at least 189 human injuries.

Wildlife casualties are likely much higher, says Liz Hillard, a researcher with Wildlands Network. From September 2018 to December 2020, her team recorded 140 elk, whitetailed deer and black bear mortalities along the I-40 stretch. “That’s just a fraction of what’s going on out there,” she says.

No one wants to see dead animals littering the side of the road, says Figart, who also serves as the Safe Passage coalition’s outreach chair. But in some ways, it’s more dangerous ecologically when animals don’t attempt to venture across the interstate. If wildlife becomes stuck in a small portion of available habitat and can’t venture to find mates, a phenomenon known as the barrier effect, species are forced to continually mate with genetically similar relatives. That lack of movement reduces genetic diversity and can lead to less healthy populations.

In Figart’s book, this is modeled through “Turtle’s Law,” a rule imposed by the forest’s leaders banning the animals from crossing the highway.

But Bear doesn’t have a mate, and he can only find a female companion by venturing across the gorge.

“It’s just one of the concepts we’re trying to get across through the characters,” Figart says. “When kids come out of the book, we hope they’ll have a better understanding and maybe a good discussion with their parents about it,” Figart says.

PASSING THROUGH

Using 120 cameras mounted along the edge of the roadway, Hillard and her team are working to analyze how large mammals like bears and deer use existing structures like culverts and underpasses to safely cross the interstate.

In partnership with the National Park Service and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, the team also

SNEAKY BOBCAT: A bobcat uses a round culvert to navigate under Interstate 40 in Tennessee, safely avoiding the cars traveling overhead. Photo courtesy of National Parks Conservation Association and Wildlands Network DEATH SENTENCE?: From 2017-2019, wildlife-vehicle collisions along the 28-mile stretch of Interstate 40 linking Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee caused more than $10.5 million in property damage and at least 189 human injuries. For animals, the death toll is likely much higher. Photo courtesy of the Safe Passage Project outfitted 13 elk with GPS collars to track where the animals are traveling and how they approach highway crossings. By late summer, Hillard plans to map where animal mortality rates are highest along I-40 and determine areas where mitigation could be most successful.

Preliminary findings show the vast majority of animal casualties occur where I-40 cuts through public land. Of immediate interest is Exit 7 at Harmon Den, a popular driving route to access Max Patch and the site of a safe elk crossing reported in 2015, says Jeff Hunter, senior program manager at the Asheville field office of the National Parks Conservation Association.

NCDOT plans to redo this bridge in the fall and will include 9-foot tall fences to safety direct wildlife to paths under the bridge, says David Uchiyama, department spokesperson. The animal safety additions are included in the project’s $9.5 million price tag, he adds; Hunter and the Safe Passage coalition are concurrently working to fundraise for additional wildlife fencing outside the project’s limits.

NCDOT has identified four other bridges in the Safe Passage project zone that will need updates in the coming years. Hunter anticipates making formal wildlife crossing recommendations to state agencies after the research study is completed later this year. Methods on the table include more fencing, box culverts, open-span bridges and wildlife overpasses.

In Figart’s book, the animals ultimately find a “land bridge” allowing them to safely cross the Human

Highway. That path is modeled after what the Safe Passage coalition dubs the “double tunnel,” a section of I-40 where the road cuts through the side of Snowbird Mountain in Haywood County. The natural landscape is preserved on top, allowing animals to avoid the interstate altogether. Many of the book’s illustrations by Emma DuFort are modeled after images taken by the roadside cameras, Figart adds.

Federal funding for wildlife crossings may soon be available, Hunter adds. The House of Representatives passed an infrastructure bill in July that earmarked $250 million to fund pilot programs to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions. Although the Senate never voted on the proposal, Hunter is optimistic discussions will resume later this legislative cycle.

the opportunity to move northward to ameliorate the climate change,” Hillard says. “It’s a really important part of this when we start thinking long-term about the pride we have in our biological diversity and conserving the wildlife we have here.”

But it will likely take decades for the necessary infrastructure changes to be built, Figart notes. She hopes her book, intended for children ages 7-13, helps spark family conversa-

tions around road ecology before it’s too late.

“The future builders of these things are 7, 8, 9 years old right now,” Figart says. “We want kids to really get involved when they’re young so they will continue to be passionate as they grow up.”

A Search for Safe Passage is available for purchase through the Great Smoky Mountains Association at avl.mx/92r. X

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Factor in climate change, Hunter says, and the need for safe wildlife passageways significantly heats up.

He points to the Nature Conservancy’s Migrations in Motion data tracking map, which depicts a wave of mammals, birds and amphibians funneling through the southern Appalachian Mountains as they travel north to escape rising temperatures.

But more wildlife passing through the region, coupled with more cars on I-40 as tourists flock to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, could spell disaster without designated crossings in place.

“For me, this project plays a huge role in ensuring that our wildlife has

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MARCH 24-30, 2021

21

ARTS & CULTURE

‘A perfect storm’

Community efforts seek to stop the rise in musician ODs during the COVID-19 pandemic

BY EDWIN ARNAUDIN earnaudin@mountainx.com Peter Elwell kicked off 2020 in promising fashion. The frontman for Asheville-based rockers Bad Molly began the year at the Sundance Film Festival premiere of Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, in which he plays a supporting role, and returned home with a renewed commitment to recording his band’s music.

“He’s just beaming in the Sundance press photos,” says bandmate Lynn Fister. “He really felt positive about the way his life was going, and he was extremely excited by the prospect of us putting an album down more professionally and mastering it more properly.”

On Sept. 20, while out working on shrimping vessels in Florida, Elwell died of a drug overdose, confirms Fister. In subsequent months, fellow local bands Shaken Nature and Thee Sidewalk Surfers also lost integral members, part of an overall increase in area overdoses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Buncombe County emergency department reported 54 visits for opioid overdoses in JanuaryFebruary 2021, up 26% from those same months in 2020. And Amy Upham, who spearheaded the county’s Post Overdose Response Team, sent out a spike alert in late February that sustained through early March after EMS saw an average of four or more overdoses per day — up from two-three — for several consecutive days.

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MARCH 24-30, 2021

YES, WE (NAR)CAN: Musicians for Overdose Prevention board members Bayla Ostrach, left, and John Kennedy are committed to making the anti-opioid naloxone ubiquitous within the Asheville area. Photo courtesy of MOP

RISK FACTORS

Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and other famous musicians died via overdose, and reports of area artists’ deaths by such means occasionally make their way through social media. But Elwell’s friend and fellow musician John Kennedy says 2020 was the first year that he lost people he personally knew to drugs.

Though all local residents have been affected by the pandemic, he feels that the music community has been disproportionately hit and is struggling in distinct ways.

Numerous artists support themselves through service industry jobs, Kennedy notes, and are dealing with the economic stress brought on by restaurants and bars closed or operating at reduced capacity due to state-mandated restrictions.

These same individuals were also used to the rush of instant audience feedback at the heart of performing live, which likewise vanished when venues temporarily shuttered.

Many of these artists, he adds, especially those in the underground scene, are empaths who feel compelled to express themselves through song, a process that leaves them emotionally vulnerable. To

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cope with the feelings that can arise with such raw, honest sharing, many use drugs to self-medicate and to sustain the electricity derived from being onstage.

“For some people, either alcohol or substances help you get into a space where you can be that vulnerable,” says Bayla Ostrach, Kennedy’s bandmate in Bad Banker and Dark City Kings. “But then also, there’s something about that vulnerability that it can be hard, once you’ve been in that space, to come down from that.”

THE FENTANYL FACTOR

Kennedy refers to 2000-15 as a time when “pharmaceutical grade opioids were just being pumped out everywhere in the country” and falsely marketed as having extremely low addiction rates. While such efforts as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain in 2016 led to changes that were implemented by health plans and clinic systems, he says demand for opioids remains high. Compounding matters is the rise in synthetic fentanyl-based opioids — estimated to

be 25-50 times stronger than heroin and 50-100 times stronger than morphine — at prices similar to marijuana. According to Kennedy, one pill can go for $10-$20.

Additional pandemic-related issues have resulted in “a perfect storm” of risk factors, says Ostrach, who works as an applied medical anthropologist and community research liaison with local syringe access and overdose prevention program the Steady Collective, Holler Harm Reduction and N.C. Harm Reduction Coalition. Over the past year, many people who use drugs (aka PWUD) have experienced supply-chain disruptions, leading them to obtain substances they are less familiar with (e.g., a heroin user turning to meth), further increasing the chance of an overdose.

And if a PWUD’s regular drug dealer is quarantining or arrested and sent to jail — which could happen at any time without warning — the user often gets desperate and buys drugs from unfamiliar sources. Ostrach says these trusted drug providers often test the supply for contaminants and even provide the overdose prevention medication naloxone to loyal customers so that the dealer can encourage continued sales.

Self-isolation additionally means PWUD may be more likely to use alone, which Ostrach says is another risk factor for overdose. But it’s the increased presence of fentanyl — 2 milligrams of which can be lethal — in everything from pressed, seemingly prescription pills to cocaine and ketamine that’s especially troubling. To better understand this trend, the Steady Collective is distributing fentanyl test strips and encouraging people to use them on any drug they plan to take and report back positive results.

“A lot of the conversations that harm reductionists are having at certain service programs or when they’re distributing safe drug consumption supplies is saying, ‘Fentanyl is not just a concern for people who think of themselves as opioid users. So if you think of yourself as someone who primarily uses other drugs, you’re also at risk for overdose,’” Ostrach says.

MUSICIANS UNITED

Kennedy has family members dealing with addiction, and his

work outside of music has included projects on leaving the prison system — where addiction and mental health issues play major roles — as well as drug use and recovery in the Southern Appalachians.

“I was in that space, and I was in the music space,” he says. “And then me and my wife [Cinnamon Kennedy] were like, ‘There’s such a big overlap, and it’s so obvious that someone needs to just step in and make sure every music venue in Asheville has naloxone on hand.’”

The Kennedys launched Musicians for Overdose Prevention in January 2020 and partnered with Buncombe County Health and Human Services to get around 50 naloxone kits, which MOP distributed until the pandemic started.

Efforts then shifted online in the form of livestreams and compilation records, and all participating bands were sent MOP goodie bags with T-shirts and naloxone to encourage them to carry the medicine. As pandemic restrictions are lifted and venues reopen, additional efforts will be made to have naloxone available in these spaces, and a national campaign is also in the works to get kits in music clubs, tour buses and at festivals.

In his capacity as board member and co-founder of Asheville Music Professionals, Josh Blake helped connect MOP with area venue owners. He and his fellow board members also made it a priority early in the pandemic to provide mental and physical health resources to local musicians. The AMP website includes links to local therapists and health care providers who either accept all insurance plans or have sliding payment scales, and the organization has hosted a pair of mental health workshops, facilitated by grief counselors and other professionals.

“I think one of the biggest challenges for anybody who’s dealing with addiction is reaching out — finding a place to reach out and feeling like they’re at a place where they want to reach out,” Blake says.

“It’s the person who needs to want to change and take the first step.

So, I think AMP is just providing a few safety net resources for people who are willing to do that.”

LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS

As a MOP board member, Ostrach serves as a conduit between musicians and harm reductionists, and dispels myths about naloxone, which they point out is avail-

able over the counter to anyone at most pharmacies and billable through insurance.

“If you’re a musician, you’re going to be somewhere where somebody is using drugs, so go ahead and take responsibility for this,” Ostrach says. “Cinnamon often talks about it as ‘deputizing’ musicians to be the ones to take care of other musicians, and I really like that framing of it.”

But in order to confidently provide that care, Ostrach says musicians must know their rights. North Carolina’s 911 Good Samaritan law, passed in 2013, protects individuals who call for emergency help — as well as the person overdosing — from being arrested. And the state’s syringe exchange law, passed in 2016, allows syringe exchange programs to operate legally, though in the event of an arrest, program employees, volunteers and participants must provide written verification to law enforcement officers to be granted limited immunity.

Despite these laws, Ostrach says community members continue to be arrested, discouraging individuals from seeking potentially lifesaving help. “Participants routinely report that in such situations, local law enforcement — who accompany or precede EMS — ignore or tear up their syringe service program participant cards,” they say.

Local law enforcement representatives, however, dispute these claims.

“The Asheville Police Department does not, and cannot, charge an individual who calls for assistance to an overdose with the possession of drugs in an amount that would constitute a misdemeanor charge in another context; possession of drug paraphernalia; and possession of less than 1 gram of cocaine or heroin,” says Christina Hallingse, APD public information officer.

Aaron Sarver, Hallingse’s counterpart in the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, likewise says he’s not aware of officers violating the Good Samaritan law. But Ostrach says that in the experience of local substance abuse professionals they do research with, “law enforcement leadership are often unaware of what their patrol officers and deputies are actually doing on the streets” and “will officially state that laws and policies are being complied with when direct observation, research and even review and comparison of paraphernalia arrests, dropped charges and overlapping overdose incident reports would show otherwise.”

The county’s Community Paramedic and Post Overdose Response Team deploys a community paramedic and a peer support person to the scene of an overdose instead of law enforcement, according to Community Paramedic program manager and PORT co-lead Claire Hubbard.

Though that represents a positive development, Ostrach nevertheless recommends carrying and being trained in administering naloxone to save lives without risking arrest.

Mothlight, when it was around, music scene — of these bands, their music is un-f***ing-believable,” Kennedy says. “Shaken Nature and Jimmy and Peter are just incredible musicians. And right now, within the music industry, there’s not a lot of infrastructure or labels running around looking for people, especially not from small music scenes. But these people are real artists, 100% of the way, and they produced incredibly beautiful pieces of music.” musiciansforoverdoseprevention.org X

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

As allies work to better understand the complexities of the opioid impact and provide support from different angles, the goal of preventing the loss of more local musicians to drug overdoses remains the primary directive. In the meantime, they’re also honoring the recently departed with various projects. Bad Molly’s debut LP is nearly ready for release, and a split 7 inch with Ouroboros Boys — two of whose members are in both bands — arrived in February and has already cleared overhead costs, paving the way for all future proceeds to be donated to MOP. Kennedy says that Tristen Colby of Hush Records is also creating a compilation of songs by Thee Sidewalk Surfers frontman Jimmy McGuirl, another immensely talented artist who died in January from an overdose.

“The music scene — the Fleetwood’s, Odditorium, Sly Grog,

Impactful language Bayla Ostrach is working with harm reductionist Virgil Hayes, a former North Carolinian who’s currently pursuing a doctorate in communication studies at the University of Missouri, to change the language used to describe the overall opioid situation. Whereas “opioid crisis” suggests a natural disaster, and “opioid epidemic” implies an inescapable virus — both of which they say lead people to feel overwhelmed and paralyzed — the duo encourage using the terms “opioid impact” or “overdose impact” to promote action and cooperation to identify the structural changes that need to be addressed. X

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ARTS & C U L T U R E

FOOD

All rise for food equity WNC Food Justice Planning Initiative works collaboratively to effect system change

BY KAY WEST kwest@mountainx.com “Follow the money” is a phrase often used by investigators and journalists when trying to uncover nefarious behavior. It was also the path that initially guided members of the Community Health Improvement Process, Buncombe County’s Food Security Working Group, to form the WNC Food Justice Planning Initiative, a collaborative entity with the mission “to create a thriving, regenerative, resilient food system with food justice for all in WNC.” Composed of representatives of organizations, institutions and nonprofits operating in Buncombe and surrounding counties, the CHIP working group started meeting nearly a decade ago to brainstorm strategy areas for addressing food security and systems change.

The group’s interest was piqued when Dogwood Health Trust was created in 2018 to receive the proceeds from the 2019 sale of the assets of the nonprofit Mission Health System to HCA Healthcare.

“We recognized that Dogwood Health Trust was going to be focusing their funding on social determinants of health, and food security is a key social determinant of health,” says Nicole Hinebaugh, program director for Bountiful Cities and one of four members of the FJPI leadership team, which also included Laura Lauffer of EmPOWERing Mountain Food Systems, Abbie Young of Bounty & Soul and Abby Holmes, regional health promotion specialist with

BC-19: The first two large-group meetings of the WNC Food Justice Planning Initiative were held in person before COVID-19 forced a pivot to virtual. Courtesy of the WNCFJPI MountainWise. “It seemed to us an incredible opportunity.”

The leadership team did some initial grant writing and procured funding from the Community Foundation of WNC, the WNC Bridge Foundation and WNC Nonprofit Pathways. They reached out to organizations already addressing food insecurity in the 18 counties and Qualla Boundary of Western North Carolina, and in January 2020 launched WNC FJPI as a yearlong collaborative planning process.

Holmes was drawn to the FJPI’s focus on regionwide food system

change. “Not just looking at things in individual silos but at bigger pictures of why food insecurity and injustice exist in our region and how to address that,” she says. “This seemed to me to be the first time this large a group was coming together to discuss that work.”

The seed money allowed FJPI to hire a meeting facilitator, compensate participants for their time and reimburse for mileage and child care as needed. Over 50 organizations joined the first large-group meeting in early 2020, implementing a modified consensus-based decision-making process

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to achieve the objective of creating a Regional Strategic Action Plan. “That plan identifies a prioritized list of strategies we want to collectively pursue across the region in collaboration and focus on shared resources and information,” explains Hinebaugh.

Two in-person large-group meetings, employing breakout sessions for smallgroup discussions, were held before COVID-19 forced a move to virtual meetings. As the pandemic unfolded, participants from the emergency food distribution sector were often pulled away from meetings by demands to meet the enormous surge of coronavirus-related need.

Recognizing that participating organizations did not have the racial or socioeconomic diversity of the population they were seeking to serve, members of the initiative conducted over 40 key informant interviews to solicit feedback from individuals such as farmworkers and farm owners, food aggregators and people experiencing food insecurity.

“All of 2020 raised a lot of conversations throughout our planning process, not just about COVID’s inequities but also Black Lives Matter, and we had a lot of conversations about how to be sure our work was focused on equity and being racially inclusive,” Holmes explains.

Six strategies were identified: healthy food distribution; community gardens; agriculture networks; food waste; cooking and nutrition education; and the development of a regional food council.

“The council will likely serve as the hub for continued collaborative activity, a regional collaborative vehicle for this work going forward,” says Hinebaugh.

Phase 2 — which kicked off this month — will focus on implementation of the Regional Strategic Action Plan compiled from action plans each strategy group submitted. A new leadership team composed of Hinebaugh, Holmes and representatives from each strategy group has been formed. The individual groups will continue to meet monthly, and large-group meetings will segue to a quarterly schedule.

The Community Foundation has granted another $20,000, and the FPJI has applied to additional funding sources with the goal of putting plans into action and purchasing items such as garden materials and refrigeration units. “If we are successful in Phase 2 implementing the six strategy plans and getting their legs under them, the planning initiative won’t need to exist into Phase 3,” Hinebaugh notes.

Ultimately, Holmes says, the goal is to form “a sustainable coalition to continue the work and be paid to do so — a vessel for all the different projects that will be formulating to address these issues.” X

THEATER

Global inclusion

Holophonic Theatre debuts with audio-only dystopian cyberpunk musical To hear Nye and Terran discuss their new audio-only musical, Vacant Arcadia, is to hope that they remain collaborators for decades to come.

The fledgling Holophonic Theatre founders’ dedication to inclusive representation in their creations is certainly inspiring. But their mutual appreciation for one another’s skills and the level of commitment they’ve received from like-minded artists around the world to their debut project (for no guaranteed payday) suggests something truly special is afoot.

The two queer Asheville-based creators — who prefer to go by their artistic monikers — became fast friends at a “gothnic” (aka goth picnic) at Riverside Cemetery and soon thereafter advocates for each other’s work. A native of Chicago and longtime poet, Terran has a background in philosophy and physics but had their first play, The Opposite of Entropy, produced by The Magnetic Theatre in summer 2020. Nye hails from Asheville and originally went to college for theater before pivoting to a career in sound design and audio engineering.

While having an all-night hang and art-creation session at Waffle House, Nye suddenly pitched the idea of making a musical. Terran quickly agreed, trusting their more experienced colleague for guidance, and the work began. The result premiered March 18 in the form of 10 episodes, each 30-45 minutes long, and featuring 26 original songs.

Reminiscent of sci-fi films Metropolis and Elysium, with a sprinkling of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Vacant Arcadia takes place in the Fifth Retrograde Economic Zone, an orbital city that’s the premier tourist destination for the wealthy elite.

Below, the squalid and overcrowded undercity houses the thousands of staff who keep the FREZ running. In search of escape, five desperate citizens partake in an illegal augmented reality game under the direction of an unstable hacker, but once they discover the city’s greatest secret, they must decide if a new life is worth dying for.

“We tried to lean towards dystopian fiction and cyberpunk influences, but there’s not a lot of that in there,” Terran says. “It’s a very queer space, and we have a lot of queer characters, but it’s not about their queerness.

It’s about inescapable poverty and

LIMITLESS IMAGINATION: Concept art for the Holophonic Theatre’s audio-only musical Vacant Arcadia provides an idea of what co-creators Nye and Terran envision, but in no way seek to define each listener’s interpretation of the production. Character designs by Crowe Waymaker; cityscape by Nightfawn whether it’s a good thing to possess hope and whether a new chance is worth what you risk to take it.”

Nye notes that the COVID-19 pandemic all but necessitated Vacant Arcadia be exclusively an audio production, especially when it came to recruiting global collaborators.

Fellow artists were found via Twitter, TikTok and from posting flyers in downtown Asheville. And all who signed on believed in the material to the extent that they were willing to put forth months of their time and talents despite no assurance of financial compensation. (The creators have set up a Patreon campaign, and all of the actors and crew will be paid from ticket sales and donations.) But beyond practicality, eschewing a visual component also made sense for the story they wanted to tell.

“The traditional theater format makes it really hard to have science fiction be convincing with musicals and not just have it be supercheesy and way too overstimulating,” Nye says. “And since we’re doing it in an audio format, we get to do the same thing books do to a certain extent, where we’re able to let people imagine it themselves.”

Terran already considered the project a success after the virtual table read left the cast in tears but believes that the work’s emotional richness will extend beyond the creative team.

“I think this will make people feel things,” they say. “Also, we have one song in it that was written specifically out of my hope that someone will do drag to it someday. And so if that ever happens, I will also be able to die happy.”

As for future Holophonic Theatre projects, Nye notes that there is no road map to help guide them and Terran. Existing audio-only productions are typically one-off experiments from creators not committed to that approach, yet Nye says the absence of “rules” or a prescribed playbook for such endeavors affords even more freedom to tell stories that normalize queer and neurodiverse people, as well as others living on the fringe of society.

“It’s OK to be yourself. That’s huge,” Nye says. “And the whole story of hope in the darkest periods of time does echo a bit with what we’re experiencing right now, even though that wasn’t necessarily what we set out to do in the first place. It just started shifting there — that you don’t always need to have a reason to continue to push and to continue to hope, but it may be rewarding regardless.” theholophonic.com

— Edwin Arnaudin X

Have a child entering middle school for the 2021-2022 school year?

Interested in an alternative option?

Come out to our Middle School Open House at Woodson Branch Nature School and see what we’re all about! Learn about our traditional and non-traditional subjects such as our unique farm, art and forest programs and how our students learn experientially by engaging their hands, hearts, and minds. Come up to our campus, meet our teachers and ask all the questions you like!

Learn all about what WBNS has to offer your family!

April 1st • 12pm-2pm & 3:30pm-5:30pm RSVP Here: tours@madisoncclc.org

14555 US Hwy. 25/70, Marshall, NC 28753

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MARCH 24-30, 2021

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ARTS & CU L T U R E

ROUNDUP

Around town

Author Tommy Hays named to The Order of the Long Leaf Pine and other arts happenings This winter, award-winning author Tommy Hays joined his wife, Connie, for lunch inside the couple’s Asheville home when he discovered a manila envelope next to his plate.

“I looked up at Connie, and she was grinning,” Hays remembers. “I had no idea about what.”

The mystery was quickly solved when Hays opened the envelope and discovered he’d been named to The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the governor of North Carolina that recognizes extraordinary service to the state. Other distinguished recipients have included Maya Angelou and Coretta Scott King.

“I was really touched to receive this award,” says Hays, who retired from UNC Asheville in 2020, where he served as the executive director of the Great Smokies Writing

Arts scholarships for graduating seniors Each spring, local arts organization Toe River Arts awards scholarships to graduating high school seniors or nontraditional students continuing their education.

Applicants must be from Yancey or Mitchell counties and pursing degrees in the arts or arts education. Scholarships range from $500$1,000. The application deadline is Thursday, April 1. To apply, visit avl.mx/94u.

MOVIE LISTINGS Bruce Steele’s and Edwin Arnaudin’s latest critiques of new films available to view via local theaters and popular streaming services include: THE FATHER: Anthony Hopkins fully earns his latest Oscar nomination, portraying a man battling dementia in this bracingly realistic drama.

Grade: A. Rated PG-13 NOBODY: Bob Odenkirk as an action star? When the fight scenes and dark humor are this strong, the answer is a resounding “yes.”

Grade: A-minus. Rated R

Find full reviews and local film info at ashevillemovies.com patreon.com/ashevillemovies 26

MARCH 24-30, 2021

DELIGHTFUL SURPRISE: Tommy Hays says he was “blown away” when he was named to the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. Photo by Connie Hays Program and lecturer in the university’s master of liberal arts and sciences program. “But in the end, I think it’s more about the generous spirit of Western North Carolina’s writing community, which I’ve been lucky enough to be part of these many years.”

For more, see avl.mx/957.

ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE: A dream come true for fans of Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

And a nightmare for viewers who’d rather not waste four hours with moody superheroes.

Grade: D-minus. Rated R

its downtown location. Discounted entries run through Sunday, May 9.

The deadline to submit is Sunday, Oct. 10. Among the many prizes, this year’s winner will receive a fully funded, six-song EP, recorded and mixed at Citizen Studios and released on the NewSong Recordings label. To learn more, visit avl.mx/94j.

‘Women of Distinction’

Local artist Joseph Pearson celebrates some of today’s most influential local women in his latest series, Women of Distinction. Chef Hanan Shabazz, Mayor Esther Manheimer and artist Cleaster Cotton are among the portraits featured in the collection, now on display in the upstairs gallery at Delta House Life Development of Asheville, 218 S. French Broad Ave. “I want girls and young women to be inspired and encouraged to strive toward their potential,” Pearson says. The work can be viewed Monday-Saturday, 2-6 p.m. Masks are required. The

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exhibit runs through Friday, April 30. For more information, visit avl.mx/94h.

Drag as activism UNC Asheville is hosting Drag as Art and Activism on Monday, March 29, 3:30-5 p.m. The virtual performance will feature four local talents: Jasmine Summers, Natasha Noir Nightly, Beulah Land and Ida Carolina. “This event aims to draw critical attention to performing arts, drag in particular, as a space for social activism and community organizing,” says Amanda Wray, associate professor of English at UNCA and the event’s organizer. Register at avl.mx/94i.

Submit your song Songwriters, the 2021 NewSong Music performance and songwriting competition is now open. This year’s event is presented by Citizen Vinyl, which will host the eight finalists for a Saturday, Dec. 4, showcase at

Arts in March

Following a 2020 hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Heart of Brevard is bringing back Arts in March, Saturday-Sunday, March 27-28. Live bands will perform throughout the two-day event. This year’s gathering will also include the inaugural youth sidewalk chalk showcase. Self-guided walking tours will lead attendees to over 30 participating businesses. Safety measures will be in place. Masks and social distancing are encouraged. To learn more, visit avl.mx/94y.

Gaining Momentum After two years of construction, Momentum Gallery recently celebrated the opening of its new twofloor space at 52 Broadway. Jordan Ahlers, owner and director, says the renovation pays homage to the building’s 100-year history with exposed bricks and original hand-painted signs still on display. Works by glass artists are among the exhibits currently featured, including original pieces by John Littleton and Kate Vogel, among others. Momentum has also partnered with Chihuly Studios, making it one of only a handful of galleries offering Dale Chihuly’s work for sale. Gallery hours are Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday, noon-5 p.m.

To learn more, visit avl.mx/94p.

— Thomas Calder X

FOOD ROUNDUP

Sharing is caring

Participants in the Saturday, March 27, hunt can expect to find early specimens of ramps, wintercress, crinkleroot (a three-leaf plant with a cabbage flavor) and spicewood buds. Morels are not yet in season, but Séguret will point out to participants how and where to look for them. The outing begins at 2 p.m. with an al fresco appetizer and beverage before foragers troop into the woods with knives and baskets (and appropriate footwear), then return to eat light fare she will prepare in advance.

Séguret will also conduct private tours for pandemic pod groups reserved in advance. Cost of the March 27 foraging expedition is $50. To register, visit avl.mx/951.

Spring brings growth and new opportunities for local restaurants and food companies Farmer Aaron Grier, owner of Leicester’s Gaining Ground Farm with his wife, Anne, says that when he first planted the seed for We Give a Share last March in response to COVID-19, the nonprofit program checked two boxes: supporting local agriculture and feeding the underserved. With a successful first year under their belts, Grier and WGAS are now seeking to partner with more local farmers.

We Give a Share began by recruiting Western North Carolina growers who had lost revenue from restaurant clients and tailgate markets during the pandemic shutdown to provide fresh produce for the meals chef Kikkoman Shaw and his crew in the Southside Community Kitchen cook five days a week for elderly, disabled and housebound residents of Asheville’s public housing communities. Similar to a community supported agriculture program, donors buy “shares” that allow farmers to be paid for their products. Besides Gaining Ground, other participating growers include Green Toe Ground Farm in Burnsville, Ten Mile Farm in Old Fort, Dry Ridge Farm in Mars Hill and Sunburst Trout Farms in Waynesville.

“Mark (Rosenstein, co-founder of the Southside Community Kitchen meals program) says We Give a Share provided 60% of the food [for the program] last year,” reports Grier. “We want to increase that this year.” To that end, 2020 participants will expand the amounts of produce they provide, and We Give a Share is recruiting additional farmers via its website. Additionally, the adjacent Southside Community Garden will plant and grow more vegetables this season to contribute to the cause.

Along with creating an income stream for farmers, We Give a Share intends to build connections between them and Southside chefs through volunteer commitment to the kitchen. Grier — who takes his kids, Cyril and Addiebelle, with him during volunteer shifts at Southside — counts that as a

KITCHEN AID: Future farmer Cyril Grier and chef Kikkoman Shaw collaborate in the Southside Community Kitchen. Photo by Aaron Grier benefit. “Relationship building with communities that don’t usually have a conduit to get together behind the same cause is exciting,” he says. “We learn something from Kikkoman every time we’re there.”

To apply to become a WGAS producer or donate, visit avl.mx/94z.

Wine and dine

This month, chef Katie Button and her husband, Felix Meana — owners of Cúrate and La Bodega

by Cúrate — launch a monthly series of virtual wine tasting and cooking classes hosted in their home kitchen. On Wednesday, March 24, at 8 p.m., the dynamic duo will feature Microbio 2017, a natural 100% verdejo, and demonstrate the preparation of sandwiches, salads and tapas using Spanish pantry staples. Local participants can order and pick up the wine and cooking ingredients from the La Bodega shop on Lexington Avenue.

The class is free for Cúrate Spanish Wine Club members and $20 for nonmembers with 50% of ticket

sales donated to Asheville Strong in support of Feed Our Cities.

The Thursday, April 15, class will feature a trio of Spanish wines, and Button will teach guests how to make her tortilla española, the classic Spanish potato and onion omelet.

For more information and to register, visit avl.mx/950.

Pop up

The transition from big screens in movie theaters to small screens in living rooms has not diminished the insatiable craving for film’s most popular snack — popcorn.

With a record sales year in 2020, Poppy Handcrafted Popcorn — the Asheville-based company founded

by Ginger Frank in 2014 — was feeling crunched for space.

In early March, Poppy began operations at a new shipping and fulfillment facility in Old Fort. The new location will allow Poppy to expand kitchen and production space at its existing Black Mountain facility and boost production capacity by more than 25%. Poppy’s new neighbors in downtown Old Fort are Hillman Brewing and Kitsbow Cycling Apparel.

To shop locally for bags of Poppy’s non-GMO popcorn, use the store locator at avl.mx/952 or order online at avl.mx/953.

— Kay West X

Into the woods

Chef, author and foraging expert Susi Gott Séguret is bringing back the Appalachian Culinary Experience, a popular monthly series of foraging and dining adventures conducted on her wooded, pastured 200-acre Madison County farm.

“I suspended them completely last year, but I feel more confident now keeping it all outdoors and have been out there every day to see what’s peeking out,” she says.

“March is just the beginning of the season, so it’s a good time to start again.”

ISO Warehouse Space

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You: 1,000-ish sq.ft. rough space with a roll-up door and possibly a loading dock Us: Local independent newspaper with a thing for purple Call to connect: 251-1333 x112

MARCH 24-30, 2021

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CLUBLAND

Online Event= q WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24 ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Free Anesthesia (psychedelic rock), 5pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. French Broad Valley Mountain Music Jam, 6pm THE 2ND ACT Open Mic w/ Letters to Abigail, 6pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Witty Wednesday Trivia Night, 6:30pm

CATAWBA BREWING CO. General Trivia w/ Bingeable, 7pm ISIS MUSIC HALL q Dan Navarro (folk), 7pm, avl.mx/94t

THURSDAY, MARCH 25 ONE WORLD BREWING WEST West King String Band (bluegrass, folk), 5pm HIGHLAND BREWING COMPANY Crafted Singer Songwriter Series w/ Matt Smith, 6pm SALVAGE STATION Lyric (funk, R&B), 6pm

Why I support Xpress:

THE GREY EAGLE An Evening w/ The Travelin' Kine (Americana), 6pm RABBIT RABBIT Slice of Life Rooftop Comedy, 7pm

FRIDAY, MARCH 26 SALVAGE STATION Phuncle Sam (Grateful Dead tribute), 6pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Sandy Herrault (violinist, fiddler), 6pm MAD CO. BREW HOUSE JC Tokes & the Empty Pockets (retro Americana), 6pm

ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Roots & Dore (blues, soul), 6pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. Abbey Elmore Band (pop, alternative), 7pm ISIS MUSIC HALL The Jakob's Ferry Stragglers (bluegrass, rockabilly), 7pm ASHEVILLE GUITAR BAR Mr Jimmy & Friends (blues), 7:30pm

SATURDAY, MARCH 27 BURNTSHIRT VINEYARDS Ben Phantom (pop, bluegrass, jazz), 2pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Pleasure Chest Duo (blues, soul), 3pm

“Local news is so important for the community. I want to make sure it keeps happening for me, my neighbors, my students and all.”

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FINGERS CROSSED: Acclaimed fingerstyle guitarist Peppino D’Agostino will play a concert for the Mountain Spirit Acoustic Series. Combining jazz, classical and world music, D’agostino creates warmth and texture with open tuning and percussive techniques. The show will stream live Saturday, March 27, 7 p.m. Admission by donation. avl.mx/95p. Photo by Joe Tecza WEHRLOOM HONEY MEADERY Music & Mead w/ Phantom Pantone DJ Collective, 4pm ISA'S FRENCH BISTRO James Hammel (solo acoustic), 5pm BATTERY PARK BOOK EXCHANGE Dinah’s Daydream (jazz), 5pm ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Rockstead w/ Dacota Muckey & The Trip (rock, jam, reggae), 5pm BLUE GHOST BREWING COMPANY Mr Jimmy (blues), 6pm

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MARCH 24-30, 2021

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SUNDAY, MARCH 28 HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Soul Jazz Sunday w/ Taylor Pierson Trio, 2pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Old Sap (indie folk), 3pm THE GREENHOUSE MOTO CAFE Mr Jimmy (blues), 3pm

MONDAY, MARCH 29

ISIS MUSIC HALL The Alex Leach Band (bluegrass), 7pm

OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. House of SYNth, 6:30pm

ISIS MUSIC HALL q Peppino D’Agostino (world music, jazz), 7pm, avl.mx/95p

THE JOINT NEXT DOOR Blue Monday w/ Mr Jimmy, 7pm

TUESDAY, MARCH 30 ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Early Tuesday Jam w/ The Trilateral Omission, 5pm

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31 ONE STOP AT ASHEVILLE MUSIC HALL Free Anesthesia (psychedelic rock), 5pm ONE WORLD BREWING WEST Guitarist DJ Williams of Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe (funk), 5pm OKLAWAHA BREWING CO. French Broad Valley Mountain Music Jam, 6pm THE 2ND ACT Open Mic w/ Letters to Abigail, 6pm SWEETEN CREEK BREWING Witty Wednesday Trivia Night, 6:30pm

THURSDAY, APRIL 1 HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Crafted Singer Songwriter Series w/ Matt Smith, 6pm

FRIDAY, APRIL 2 HIGHLAND BREWING CO. Soul Jazz Sunday w/ Taylor Pierson Trio, 2pm MAD CO. BREW HOUSE Jack Byron (Americana, motown), 6pm CATAWBA BREWING CO. Writers’ Night w/ Stephen Evans, Scott Stetson & Planefolk FLEETWOOD’S Fortezza w/ Rhinestone Pickup Truck (garage rock, grunge), 7pm ISIS MUSIC HALL The Lazybirds (roots, blues), 7pm

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MARCH 24-30, 2021

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FREEWILL ASTROLOGY ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the novel House of Leaves, the hero Johnny Truant describes his friend Lude as wanting “more money, better parties and prettier girls.” But Johnny wants something different. What is it? He says, “I’m not even sure what to call it except I know it feels roomy and it’s drenched in sunlight and it’s weightless and I know it’s not cheap.” In my opinion, that declaration is far too imprecise! He’ll never get what he wants until he gets clearer about it. But his fantasy is a good start. It shows that he knows what the fulfillment of his yearning feels like. I suggest you get inspired by Johnny Truant’s approximation to conjure up one of your own.

Gaze ahead a few years and see if you can imagine what your best possible future feels like. Then describe it to yourself as precisely as possible.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): How distraught I was when I discovered that one of my favorite poets, Pablo Neruda, was an admirer of the murderous dictator Joseph Stalin. It broke my heart to know I could never again read his tender, lyrical poetry with unconditional appreciation. But that’s life: Some of our heroes and teachers disappoint us, and then it’s healthy to re-evaluate our relationships with them. Or maybe our own maturation leads us to realize that once-nurturing influences are no longer nurturing. I recommend that sometime soon, you take a personal inventory with these thoughts in mind. I suspect there may be new sources of inspiration headed your way. Get ready for them.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Self-help author Steve Maraboli has useful advice for you to consider in the coming weeks. I hope you’ll meditate on what he says and take decisive action. He writes, “Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.” To get started, Gemini, make a list of three things you do have power over and three things you wish you did but don’t have power over.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): While he was alive, Cancerian author Franz Kafka burned 90% of everything he wrote. In a note to a friend before he died, he gave instructions to burn all the writing he would leave behind. Luckily, his friend disobeyed, and that’s why today we can read Kafka’s last three novels and a lot more of his stuff. Was his attitude toward his creations caused by the self-doubt that so many of us Cancerians are shadowed by? Was he, like a lot of us Crabs, excessively shy about sharing personal details from his life? In accordance with astrological omens, I urge you to at least temporarily transcend any Kafka-like tendencies you have. It’s time to shine brightly and boldly as you summon your full powers of self-expression.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): To create your horoscope, I’ve borrowed ideas from Leo-born author Cassiano Ricardo. He speaks of a longing “for all that is tall like pine trees, and all that is long like rivers, and all that is purple like dusk.” I think yearnings like those will be healthy and wise for you to cultivate in the coming weeks. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you need expansive influences that stretch your imagination and push you beyond your limitations. You will benefit from meditations and experiences that inspire you to outgrow overly small expectations.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo actor and director Jean-Louis Barrault (1910–1994) aspired to “wake up a virgin each morning.” He wanted “to feel hungry for life,” as if he had been reborn once again. In order to encourage that constant renewal, he regarded going to sleep every night as “a small death.” I recommend his approach to you during the coming weeks. In my astrological opinion, the cosmic rhythms will be conspiring to regularly renew your desires: to render them pure, clean, raw and strong. Cooperate with those cosmic rhythms!

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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Is there anything more gratifying than being listened to, understood and seen for who you really are? I urge you to seek out that pleasure in abundance during the coming weeks. My reading of the astrological omens tells me you need the nurturing jolt that will come from being received and appreciated with extra potency. I hope you have allies who can provide that for you. If you don’t, search for allies who can. And in the meantime, consider engaging the services of a skillful psychotherapist or life coach or some other professional listener.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Blobs, spots, specks, smudges, cracks, defects, mistakes, accidents, exceptions and irregularities are the windows to other worlds,” writes author Bob Miller. I would add that all those things, along with related phenomena like fissures, blemishes, stains, scars, blotches, muck, smears, dents and imperfections, are often windows to very interesting parts of this seemingly regular old ordinary world — parts that might remain closed off from us without the help of those blobs and defects. I suggest you take full advantage of the opportunities they bring your way in the coming weeks.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Innovative psychologist Carl Jung had a nuanced understanding of the energies at work in our deep psyche. He said our unconscious minds are “not only dark but also light; not only bestial, semi-human and demonic, but also superhuman, spiritual and, in the classical sense of the word, ’divine.’” I bring this to your attention, Sagittarius, because now is a favorable time to get better acquainted with and more appreciative of your unconscious mind. For best results, you must not judge it for being so paradoxical. Don’t be annoyed that it’s so unruly and nonrational. Have fun with its fertility and playfulness and weirdness.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The fantasy drama Game of Thrones appeared on TVs all over the world. But the audience that watched it in China got cheated out of a lot of essential action. Government censorship deleted many scenes that featured nudity and sex, fighting and violence, and appearances by dragons, which play a starring role in the story. As you can imagine, Chinese viewers had trouble following some of the plot points. Telling you about this, Capricorn, is my way of nudging you to make sure you don’t miss any of the developments going on in your own personal drama. Some may be hidden, as in China’s version of Game of Thrones. Others might be subtle or disguised or underestimated.

Make it your crusade to know about everything.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind,” wrote author Rudyard Kipling. Yes, they are. I agree. They change minds, rouse passions, build identities, incite social change, inspire irrationality and create worlds. This is always true, but it will be especially important for you to keep in mind during the coming weeks. The ways you use language will be key to your health and success. The language that you hear and read will also be key to your health and success. For best results, summon extra creativity and craftsmanship as you express yourself. Cultivate extra discernment as you choose what you absorb.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Piscean linguist Anna Wierzbicka says the Russian expression Dusha naraspashku means “unbuttoned soul.”

She continues, “The implication is that it is good, indeed wonderful, if a person’s ’soul,’ which is the seat of emotions, is flung open in a spontaneous, generous, expansive, impetuous gesture, expressing full trust in other people and an innocent readiness for communion with them.” I wouldn’t recommend that you keep your soul unbuttoned 24/7/365, but in the coming weeks, I hope you’ll allocate more time than usual to keeping it unbuttoned.

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14 Greeting in an inbox 15 Political commentator Navarro 16 Portrayer of Carla Tortelli on “Cheers”

ACROSS 1 Option in a classic taste test 6 Beat out 10 In vogue 13 “___ moi le déluge”

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18 “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” network 19 Fraternity party container 20 “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” co-star

edited by Will Shortz 22 Can alternative 24 Squeaker or squealer 25 Least bit 26 Do some whining and whinging about 28 “The Lion King” antagonists 30 Doctor with an eponymous “slip” 31 Bygone copies 34 Hula hoops or fidget spinners, once 35 Huggies, e.g.

37 Aladdin’s mischievous sidekick 40 “No need to worry about me” 41 Start of a toast 43 & 46 Together with the circled letters, playground keep-away game 47 Relative of a cor anglais 48 Slugger’s stat 50 Filming locale

No. 0217

51 Cause of a comedic slip 55 Group featuring Dr. Dre, Eazy-E and Ice Cube 57 Med. care option 58 Where idols might be placed 61 Actor McKellen 62 Medal-worthy mettle 63 Coral component 64 General whose good name has been battered?

65 Animals found in 16-, 20-, 35-, 51and 58-Across 66 Bottomless expanse

DOWN 1 Place name in Monopoly 2 Fleeting things 3 Had drinks before going out, informally 4 Blue expanse 5 AOL, e.g.

6 Stylish flair

puzzle by David Harris and Evan Kalish 7 “Phooey!,” only stronger 8 ___ school 9 ___ Turnblad, role for Divine in “Hairspray” 10 Talk trash about 11 Still under development 12 “Never-ending” offerings at Olive Garden 14 Columnist Bombeck 17 Get paid 21 Pizzas, e.g.

23 Who just cracked this clue 26 One who likes every one of your Insta posts, say 27 Social media request 28 2013 title role for Scarlett Johansson 29 Mario’s dinosaur sidekick 31 World leader with a distinctive jacket 32 Stock market debut, for short

33 ___ B or ___ C of the Spice Girls 36 Standoffish 37 With passion 38 Metropolitan ring roads 39 Manipulate 40 Seller of Uppland and Ektorp sofas 42 Proofers, for short 43 Order from Tony Soprano, e.g.

44 Former White House family 45 Sharp rejection

46 Salsa option 48 Some auctioned autos 49 The missing letters in _UDW_IS_ _ 52 Emmy-winning science series 53 Take ___ (snooze) 54 Lightish 56 Where edelweiss grows 59 Antipollution org.

60 Weep audibly

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS NY TIMES PUZZLE C H A P E L

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C O M A

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